


Of Needles and Bees

by Ineffabilitea



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Gen, Medical, Phobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-24
Updated: 2006-06-24
Packaged: 2017-10-08 23:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ineffabilitea/pseuds/Ineffabilitea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius comforts Remus after a full moon spent at the Ministry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Needles and Bees

**Author's Note:**

> There's nothing very graphic in this, but it specifically deals with a fear of needles, which may be problematic for anyone who shares this fear with Remus.

The conversation last week had gone something like this:

"I said, we're not doing the full moon this month," Remus had said mildly.

"And why the bloody hell wouldn't we?" Sirius had asked, stunned and a bit angry.

"I'm going in to the Ministry. I signed up for an experiment."

"What sort of experiment?" Sirius asked warily.

"I dunno, exactly."

"Considering it's the Ministry, that doesn't exactly inspire much confidence in me," Sirius noted.

"I wouldn't expect it to," said Remus calmly.

"So why in Merlin's name are you going, then? Is it mandatory or something?"

"It's paying." Remus answered, as if that explained subjecting himself to torture. "Twenty Galleons," he added.

"For twenty Galleons you're going to entrust yourself to the Ministry? They could do anything they liked to you, you know."

"Well, maybe twenty Galleons doesn't sound like that much to everyone," Remus said pointedly, "but I _need_ that money."

Sirius looked both offended and guilty, as he always did when the conversation turned to money. "C'mon, Moony," he began cajolingly.

"I'm spending the full moon at the Ministry, Sirius. The subject is closed."




So Sirius wasn't exactly stunned when Remus came home from the Ministry the morning after looking like hell.

"I see you got your twenty Galleons worth," he said tartly, still resentful of having had to miss a full moon. He wanted to be _there_ for Remus, dammit, or what was the bloody point?

"Doan wanna talk about it," Remus mumbled vaguely in reply, and Sirius instantly dropped his resentment. Moony usually spent the day after pretending the transformation had been no big deal and constantly maintaining that he was used to it.

"What the hell did they do to you?" Sirius snarled, feeling the hackles he didn't have at the moment rising. _Fucking Ministry_, he thought.

"I said, I don't want to talk about it," Remus repeated wearily.

"Well, maybe you don't want to, but if it was that bad, you should ruddy well tell me," Sirius took a deep breath, remembering that it was the Ministry he was angry at, not Moony. "Please, Moony?"

Looking drained, Remus caved almost immediately, and considering how stubborn he usually was that worried Sirius more than anything. "All right, I'll tell you. But can I have a cup of tea first?"

"Yes! Yes, of course you can!" And now Sirius switched abruptly to solicitous. "In fact, you sit right down on the couch, and I'll make your tea for you. Or better yet, would you like cocoa? I think we even have some whipping cream that hasn't gone off, I could make it with whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder, I know you like it that way."

Remus tried to smile at that, then winced. "Just tea would be fine, Pads."

As Sirius made the tea – with even more sugar than Remus usually took and extra milk – he kept up a constant inner monologue. _He's alive, he'll be fine, it can't have been that bad, whatever it was, you have to stay calm, be the reliable one for once in your life, you panicking won't help, it'll be okay…._

When he emerged from the kitchen with the tea, he found Moony curled into a ball on the sofa, eyes closed tightly. "Moony?" he whispered, in case he had fallen asleep.

"I'm awake," Remus replied, but he didn't open his eyes or uncurl himself.

"D'you want your tea?"

"Just set it down for now."

Sirius sat gently down on the couch next to Remus, careful not to touch him in case he was still in some sort of pain. He stared blankly ahead of him, not looking at Remus, who still had his eyes screwed shut. Minutes passed in silence.

Eventually, when Remus made no move to pick up his tea, Sirius appropriated it for himself and took a sip, wincing at how weak it was.

Finally, Remus spoke. "You're being remarkably patient."

"I guess."

"I feel silly," Remus muttered.

"What? What on earth do you feel silly about? Actually admitting you're suffering, for once?"

"It's just – you'd think by now I'd be used to just about everything a Healer could do to me. Potions, Skele-Gro – you name it, Madam Pomfrey's used it on me. But-"

"But what?" Sirius couldn't imagine what they'd done to Remus that was worse than some of the things he'd seen in the Hospital Wing after full moons.

"But all that and I'm – I'm afraid of needles. There it is. Silly, isn't it? It's just a little piece of metal. Well, in this case, not little. More like enormous." Remus was babbling now. "There was this enormous needle and it was really long, too, and they just … stuck it in me." He started to tremble, and he looked as though he might be sick.

Sirius reached out tentatively and began rubbing Remus's shoulder. "S'okay, Moony. That's not silly at all. Lots of people are afraid of needles."

Remus looked up. "Are you?"

"Well, no. But I'm afraid of all kinds of stupid things, you know that. Just think of how I am around bees."

Now Remus really did manage a smile. "Who could forget? Sirius Black running away from Care of Magical Creatures, screaming like a little girl, all because of one little wasp."

"Little? That thing was the size of a Kneazle! And I do _not_ scream like a girl."

"Sure you don't."

"Well, the point was that we all have irrational fears. And I bet I could never sit still in a bloody _cage_ in the Ministry while some arsehole researcher made bees crawl all over me." He shuddered at the very thought.

"Probably not."

"So why'd they want to do that to you, anyway?"

"They were injecting some sort of traceable potion into my blood so they could track the physical changes of the transformation. Supposedly they want to see if there's any way to make the physical change easier."

"Oh."

"In fact – can you close the curtains?"

"Sure. Have you got a headache?"

"Yes, but that's not why. I think you're going to like this."

Sirius obediently got up and closed the curtains, darkening the room. He turned around,

"Remus, you're – bloody hell, you're glowing!"

"It's the potion," he replied. "It glows in the dark."

"Cor," replied Sirius. "Do you think I could brew some up before we next go out to the pub?"

"I don't think you'd want to. It may look neat, but it feels ruddy _awful_."

"Oh. I suppose not, then."

"I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy or go up and down stairs for the next week, either. So I guess that's another job lost."

Sirius had retaken his seat next to Remus. "I'm sorry, Moony. That's lousy."

Remus shrugged. "That's life."

Sirius wasn't in the mood to argue the point. "What can I do to help you feel better? Shall I wait on you hand and foot for the next week? Would you like a blanket? Breakfast? A Padfoot to curl up with?"

"All of those sound nice, Pads. But first, where's that tea got to?"

Sirius guiltily snatched up the empty cup. "I'll go brew more."


End file.
